The Lord General brushed Hector off when they were back on Tian, claiming he needed to settle his army. Hector settled back into the room he had been using two months earlier and waited for his benefactor to have time for him. He mentally set a time limit of one month. If he was ignored that long, he would travel back to Stronghold Gamma and forget about the whole situation.

Thrakkar claimed Zara was alive. She was a competent individual, so presumably she was brewing her mother elixir and getting stronger in the background. Though considering how little support she received from her father, it was possible she was struggling to harvest the cores she needed to feed the Mother on her own.

His time on the estate ended abruptly when Perry fetched Hector without prior notice and took him outside. The Lord General dismissed Perry and began summoning his massive sphere. "It will be just the two of us on this trip, Hector. I trust you understand how sensitive knowledge of Zara's current location is?"

"I would not betray her, Lord General."

"Not intentionally, I am certain. You are undeniably naive, though. That worries me, even if Zara speaks highly of your altruistic tendencies." He said the last with a touch of exasperation. "Continue growing stronger, Hector. You cannot be weak if you intend to stand at the side of a Lord."

As the sphere irised open, the first thing Hector noticed was the sound of waves, followed by the scent of salt water and a blast of summer heat. They had gone from mid-morning to sunset. The two of them lowered down to stand on the smooth sand of a small atoll. Behind them was a small patch of forest. Before them stretched water to the horizon, dotted by the very occasional small island.

"Oceania," the Lord General announced.

Hector looked about at what could be the brochure for an expensive vacation. "I guess I was worried about Zara for no reason. This looks like paradise."

A dark chuckle raised his hackles. "Paradise for the beasts of the sea, perhaps. Men may rule the land, Hector, but the deep ocean belongs to krakens and orcas. The cultivators of Oceania have been oppressed throughout history by the true rulers of this region. Zara hunts high level cores at great risk to herself. Though, I admit, the views here are spectacular."

The Lord General led Hector towards the small forest. There were several palm trees pushed at an angle to form an immense tepee, their roots still sufficiently connected to the ground for them to remain alive. Within the rough shelter was a neat campsite of canvas tents arranged around a fire ring. There were logs for seats and a cabinet that looked out of place.

"It looks like they are on a hunt at the moment. We'll wait."

Hector snooped around the cabinet. There was a bag of rice in one compartment and the rest of the space was taken up by cookware. He looked up to see the Lord General's disapproval and abandoned his investigations. "Who else is here? I see five tents."

"Dorian followed her into hiding. The boy was ever the shame of his father, but he seems to have come into his own while serving under Zara. I'm not certain how involved you were in the scheme those two enacted, but there is a reason the Lord Platinum pursues my daughter."

"The Mother," Hector said.

"So she trusted you with that knowledge."

"What of the other three tents?"

The Lord General shrugged. "Recent allies of hers. Zing women exiled from their sect for reasons I didn't inquire about. I understand the arrangement is that Zara gets the cores while meat is shared equally. You certainly stand to benefit from the arrangement. It would also ease my mind if I knew Zara had another loyal follower among her crew. People can be fickle in their allegiances."

"I'm surprised you trust me so much, given my… predecessor." It felt weird to refer to Volithur in that manner, but Hector had not missed the fact that the Lord General no longer used the false name of Harridan around him. The two of them could compromise on this one thing.

"That man was a coward, Hector. A coward and a fool. Those types do not have true loyalty. They are held in line only by their own fear. You are quite different from him in temperament. You rush towards danger to shield others. I disapprove in general of your tendency for self-sacrifice, but it is a trait I would wish for in one who serves my daughter."

There were some inaccurate assumptions in there, but Hector could at least appreciate the fact that Thrakkar's 'Lords need to stand on their own' philosophy did not preclude him from first testing Hector's moral qualities and then delivering him as an ally to his daughter. Hector wasn't quite sure what he intended to do going forward. He couldn't stay on Tian and hunt cores with Zara while the multiverse was threatened with annihilation.

The Lord General glanced over his shoulder suddenly, a smile rising to his face. Hector felt the approaching source of cosmic energy then. It was far weaker than it should be for a Lord. He was on his feet when five forms lowered to the ground facing him, ready for action.

It was Zara, Dorian, and three Zing women in blue robes. "Hello, Zara. Your circumstances must be worse than I feared if you are hanging out with Azure Spear Maidens."

Isabel sniffed. "Your humor has not improved, Hector."

Zara's expression shifted from stern to pleased to concerned in a matter of seconds. "How is it you know the maidens?"

Hector cleared his throat. "They tried to kill me in Stein. Then when we teamed up to face a larger threat together, they abandoned me."

Lord Zara's ire faded. "Good."

The Lord General's laughter boomed out then. "My efforts to bring you here were almost wasted just now, Hector."

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"The situation is hilarious, Master Thrakkar," he muttered.

That only caused more laughter. Zara stepped past Hector after giving a squeeze to his shoulder. "It is good to see you again, father. I expected you to be at war still."

"War Barge Elliott broke himself, so the fun had to end early."

Zara's eyes flashed. "Broke himself?"

"There was an event in the primordial. New unempowered worlds have been born. It happened while Elliott was in transit and caused him great strain."

The woman nodded. "I have sensed the new worlds. Does anyone know how this happened?"

Hector kept his lips shut as the Lords spoke. He turned when Dorian dug an elbow into his side. "Still alive, Hector?"

"So far as I can tell."

"Are you joining us for the hunt? It's quite lucrative. A lunatic like you won't mind the danger."

Aware that the Lord General might be listening, Hector nodded. "I wanted to make sure everyone was safe after the situation with Platinum."

Dorian winced. "Hector… her sobriquet is 'the Lord Platinum'. Other Lords are permitted to shorten it. Not you."

"Huh. I assumed Lord sobriquets were like Sage ones. Well, I'm already on her shit list after Percival, so it hardly matters if I disrespect her."

The Lord General must have been listening in, because he launched into the story of Hector arriving to demand an audience with a freshly harvested level eight core in his pocket. Those actions seemed to have left quite a positive impression. Zara sent quick glances his direction several times throughout the telling. Then father and daughter left to have a more private conversation.

As if that was a signal, Dorian and Mei peeled away from the group and moved towards a tent together. Hector glanced at Isabel and she shrugged. "Mei and Dorian are friendly."

"Friendly?"

Isabel glanced towards Yan, who seemed to be pouting. "Friendly like you and Lord Zara."

He didn't correct her misapprehension. "So what is the deal with you three? The Lord General said you were exiled from your sect?"

"A polite lie. After our failure in Stein leadership of our branch changed hands from Mei's aunt to a representative from the main sect. We were given a mission to harvest cores in Oceania. On its face, this was an opportunity for us to redeem ourselves and also accrue some personal benefits. In actuality, a sect elder requested the locals to eliminate us. We survived, tortured the truth from our attackers, and fled."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Hector said.

Isabel backhanded his sympathy away. "The new leader made a miscalculation in her haste to consolidate power. She should have starved us of resources to retard our growth. Sending us here has allowed us to grow faster than ever."

Hector glanced over at the amorous sounds coming from the occupied tent. "How long have those two been friendly?"

"Many months already," Isabel said.

"And they're still this enthusiastic?"

Zara was the one who responded as she returned by herself. "We had a close call today. Avoiding death has a way of inspiring the libido."

"Every day inspires lately," Isabel complained.

Zara sighed. "We are competing with the beasts for resources. They are formidable. But enough discussion. Yan, prepare some rice. Isabel, gather coconuts – one more than usual. Hector, join me for a walk."

Isabel winked at them and made kissing noises. Zara rolled her eyes and walked away.

"It's good to see you. I was worried after I ran into Percival." Hector watched the Lord as she slowly processed his words. Judging by the way she tilted her head on occasion, she seemed to be weighing her response carefully.

"Hector, I am not sure what to do with you."

He waited for more, but that was all she offered. "I don't have any ill intentions, if that's what you are worried about. I won't ever ask for the location of your… special possession. My concern is because I was the one who drew her attention to you."

Zara steered towards the sea and stopped when she was ankle deep in the water. Calm waves lapped higher along her calves as she stared out at the horizon. "I do not doubt your character, Hector. Never fear that. I have a good sense of you. What causes me to hesitate is your unclear intentions, shall we say. You may not mean me ill, but I don't know what you want. Much as I might have wished for clarity before, I need it now if I am to allow you to remain here."

Hector studied the Lord in profile a moment before turning away. What did he want? That was such a hard question to answer. He wanted so many things, but he seldom wanted the strings that came along with them. Back on Stronghold Gamma, he'd been drawn to the Sage of Purification. She was an attractive woman, it was true, with a fun personality, but in the end he knew a dalliance would go nowhere. There was no deeper compatibility. He didn't have to worry that a few months of passion would sour into another failed relationship.

"Is it such a hard question, Hector?"

"I'm not sure I can commit to anything."

"I don't ask for a commitment. I just need to know your truth. Why are you here, Hector? Why fight above your level and then demand an audience with a Lord? Is it only your sense of morality that brings you here? For the life of me, I cannot determine if I imagine the mutual nature of our interactions. Am I made a fool by my own desperation, seeing something not there? If not, why do you hold back?"

Hector found himself stuck between the crippling loneliness that plagued him and the fear that he'd somehow become trapped again like he had been with Jen. Over time he'd been able to see past the rough times and remember how his marriage began. That didn't mean he'd forgotten anything. He never wanted to feel like his world was crumbling again.

He'd tried to become a better person since leaving Earth. Would that make a difference or was he too old for real change to stick? He didn't even know if the human multiverse would last long enough for him to screw up a relationship. The simple answer to his conundrum was that he could only commit to not messing up in the same way as last time. Simple answers to complex problems were most often wrong answers.

"You know, Zara, you never initiated, either. I might be a man, but you're a Lord."

Zara turned to face him. "That is precisely why I cannot. Not many would dare refuse the advances of a Lord. With such a power imbalance, I find it unconscionable to force a relation by expressing affection first. To say nothing of the doubts such an inequitable start would sow. And what are you smiling about? Does this sound like a joke?"

"That you would worry so much about consent in potential partners that you fear to express yourself? I don't find it humorous." Hector reached out to take her hand. "I can't imagine how it happened, given the culture and the family that produced you, but you are a kind and fundamentally moral person. Against all odds, becoming a Lord hasn't corrupted you. The fact that you obsess over power dynamics instead of taking advantage of them means everything to me."

Zara pulled her hand back. "Are you expressing interest in me now because I passed some sort of behavioral screening?"

Hector stepped closer. "You are a beautiful, strong, intelligent, and ambitious woman. I want you for all of that. But I think we might actually fit together because your words sound remarkably like the debates that go on in my own head. I don't just want to be with someone, Zara. I want to be with someone who can help me grow into a better person. And I think that's you."

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